Economists React to Payroll Data

What the June Jobs Report Means
For the Economy, Interest Rates

Updated July 2, 2004 12:15 p.m. ET

The June report showed employers added only 112,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, less than half the 250,000 economists had been expecting. What does the report mean for the labor market's recovery? For interest rates? Here's what some economists had to say about the report and its implications for the economy:

The June payroll gain "looks bad but there are no grounds for thinking it marks a reversal of the improving trend in the labor market. The softness partly reflects seasonals, &hellip; partly an...